AWADmail Issue 713

A Weekly Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day
and Other Tidbits about Words and Language

Sponsor’s Message:
You think you’re pretty smart, right? Probably got a college degree, or two.
A goodish job. Fairly well-read. Large vocabulary. We could throw ‘recalcitrance’
out there and you might not even flinch. Same here. But we can honestly and
definitively say, you are illiterate. Don’t believe us? Then please join this
week’s Email of the Week winner, Russell Lott (see below), as well as all the
other smart alecks out there for a wicked pissa lesson in humility. Click here, onegaishimasu.

How appropriate that “piacular” showed up on the name day for Pia, at least
on the Swedish calendar.
A third cousin of mine sends me a Swedish calendar (Sverige Almanacken) each
year, and I noticed the coincidence. Looking into it further, I found that
many different European and Latin American countries have their own lists
for name days, though Saints’ days or feast days often carry over.

In clinical education and applications, this word lacks a negative
connotation. “The Rule of Parsimony” is that one diagnosis capturing
the range of symptoms is preferred over an unnecessarily greater number
of diagnoses.
Clinicians may recall a passing reference in class to Occam’s razor
that Wordsmith.org cited earlier, but this expression is used less often.

Being a lefty myself, I’ve long been aware that, to many, left equals
wrong, just as right equals correct -- it’s embedded in language. In fact,
our English word left comes from the Anglo-Saxon word lyft, meaning weak
or broken. It’s also in the Latin: “sinister” means “on the left side”,
the opposite of “dexter”. Now, I learn that it’s in the French, as gauche
means left or awkward!

No matter, while I have at times struggled with my left-handedness (school
desks with no place to rest my writing arm, ditto ring-binders) I have
come to embrace and celebrate my difference from the larger population as
a whole (being recruited to the pitcher’s mound in Little League baseball
for my natural curveball, quietly and smugly observing that the ratio
of lefties to righties increased significantly as my coursework got more
advanced in high school, college, graduate, and post-grad classes). Now,
I revel in the thought that I share this characteristic with five of the
last seven US Presidents going back to Gerald Ford in early 1970s. It
thrills me to see President Obama publicly sign a document using the same
“lefty’s writing crook” that I use.

At Mass the old prayer words piacular
Were found by our Lord unspectacular
“It’s meaningless chattin’,
I never learned Latin,”
Said He, “I prefer the vernacular.”

-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

Ms. Clinton was getting neurotic,
Being fearful of mood-swings demotic.
She said, “Bill, remember,
Till ninth of November --
No scandals; be autoerotic.”

-Oliver Butterfield, Kelowna, Canada (obutterfield shaw.ca)

Though most found her dancing exotic,
one man thought it much too robotic,
so tipped fifty cents.
The girl, quite incensed,
said, “A dollar would seem more demotic!”

-Anne Thomas, Sedona, Arizona (antom earthlink.net)

There was a rebellious young nun,
Whose strict solemn vows were undone.
By rejecting parsimony,
Instead choosing matrimony,
She scored a romantic home run.

-Hope Bucher, Naperville, Illinois (hopebucher gmail.com)

Gazing deep in her eyes, I said, “Ma Cherie,
I’ve invested two hours in causerie.
Do you think it is time?
“No!” she said, “I’m
Not that kind of girl. My, what gaucherie!”

-Oliver Butterfield, Kelowna, Canada (obutterfield shaw.ca)

Like atoms exhibiting valence
Are words that are dear Sarah Palin’s
They float through the air
Then combine with a flair
Into phrases defying surveillance.

-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

From: Phil Graham (pgraham1946 cox.net)
Subject: AWAD of puns

The confessional priest asked, “Is there anything in piacular you’d like to say?”

De worse de seizure, demotic.

On the eighteenth hole, make parsimony flows into your wallet.

Tiring of the French prostitute’s bad manners, I said, “Gaucherie.”

The knight was such a strong spy, he was dubbed ‘Sir Valence.’

Phil Graham, Tulsa, Oklahoma

From: Cia McKoy (ciamckoy gmail.com)
Subject: Thanks

I love the spilling of new words from you into my somewhat vocab-restricted
world. And all the diverse quotations, related to the words or not. Your
missives are far better than a coffee break!

I see Anu as a wonderful friend who goes out in the early morning searching
for shells along an obscure beach ... just to give each one away. To
complete strangers. I am touched by your dedication and generosity. Thank
you for enriching so many of our lives.

Cia McKoy, Bradenton, Florida

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

All our words are but crumbs that fall down from the feast of the mind.
-Kahlil Gibran, poet and artist (1883-1931)